[Coldjensens]

Enough gloom and doom and complaining, what are the good parts of Michigan?

I grew up here, moved away for 18 years and recently returned. We do not know the area really well, but we know that there are a lot of great places.

Kensington Metro park is a fabulous place (I worked there for 5 years during college). Henry Ford museum/Greenfield Village are really neat and worth repeated visits. You cannot beat Ann Arbor. What else is out there that is worth visiting? Where are the hotspots in downtown Detroit? It appears massively improved since the 1980s.

Is Frankenmuth worthwhile? I cannot remember what it was like.


Where is the best place for Skiing? We visited Schuss (?) mountain, it was a bit lame, but not crowded at all. Great for learners.


thanks

[jonjj]

My favorite parts of Michigan are the UP and anywhere within eyeshot of water. Michigan should really get on the campaign trail to promote those aspects to help its economy. In terms of urban life, I think Kalamazoo or Grand Rapids would be my two favorite cities. I love the Mexican area of Detroit.

[Driller1]

Midland is very nice. I live about 40 miles north in the sticks, bought all the land around me. Love it, just in Gladwin county, the taxes are low, very little added taxes by the township.

[jetengineman's wife]

I live in the Tawas area on Lake Huron (1 hr north of Bay City). We have a lot of natural beauty up here with the lake shore and AuSable River in Oscoda (20 min. north of us). One of my favorite things to do is to drive west from US23 on River Road (the 1st stop light you come to in Oscoda when traveling north on US23... the police/firestation is on the corner) and head out to Lumberman's Monument and Iargo Springs. Both places have magnificant views of the AuSable river from hillsides above the shore. Stairways lead down to the waters edge and give you a great work out. Very scenic, a great place for a picnic and just a relaxing day with friedns or family.

Tawas Point State Park is great, also... nice beach and fun waves (like playing in the ocean without the salt water) and a neat light house. Obviously, these suggestions are geared more towards summer activities. Unfortunately, other than ice fishing and cross country skiing, there isn't a whole lot to receommend about this area in the wintertime. (Sorry, I just hate winter!)

Frankenmuth has changed a lot with their River Place shopping complex across the road from Zenders and the Bavarian Inn. If you have kids, Zenders Splash Village water park and hotel is a fun place to stay overnight (expensive unless you can find an off-peak deal). The usual chicken dinner, Christmas shopping at Bronners and cute Bavarian atmosphere have not changed a whole lot in the downtown area. There is an ice sculpture festival sometime in January, I think, that is neat to see.

Welcome back!

[Cato the Elder]

Now that we've been here for a year and a half, we can comment about the subtle differences between MI and the two coasts - day-to-day stuff that you wouldn't notice on a short visit.

First on our list is day-to-day shopping. NIMBYism can be good, but it's a bit over the top in CA. Here, we can drive to two Home Depots in 5 minutes and a third Home Depot and a Lowes in 15. It took 30 minutes to get to the one Home Depot in Daly City. You know it's bad when your Home Depot, Costco, and local Albertsons have parking decks. We can drive to 3 different Krogers in 5 minutes.

I'm not sure if it's the weather, but indoor public structures are generally mediocre in CA unless they were built before WWII - even those in supposedly ritzy areas. So much of CA feels like you're driving through a 50s/60s timewarp with the architecture to match. You know what I'm talking about - those non-descript, socialistic office building with the zig-zag porch roofs - straight out of Brady Bunch. Even the airports are like this - LAX, SFO, OAK, and the most bizarre of them all, SNA where you take a right turn at the light to enter a major international airport. Unless you're downtown in a big city, there weren't any Townsend Hotels or Somerset Collections - just shabby structures that would be considered "ghetto" almost anywhere else in the country. Oakland Mall looks great compared to Stonestown Mall. I guess these things are overlooked by the CA dreamin'.

"Real" activities is next on our list. CA felt more packaged to us - this is what you do when you visit Napa, when you visit Tahoe, when you visit Carmel, etc. In some ways, it felt like you were going through a theme park visiting Saloon Land followed by Aqua World, with the concession prices to match. Amusement parks are great, but it's not something that's a normal part of your life - it's for when Uncle Jim comes into town for a visit. Nothing felt like an old pair of blue jeans, you know? It might take a bit more know-how, but it's easy to visit different parts of MI without feeling like a part of the herd getting fleeced. Visiting a cider mill or vineyard it a part of the fabric here, not just a place to take visitors.

It's been mentioned before, but we wouldn't trade the autumn here for anything, even with the winter season. One thing we got tired of hearing was how great the weather was in SF. You know, it wasn't all that great in the city - who wants 60 degrees in both August and December? I want it to be at least 75 in August and 50 tops in December. If you have to constantly say how great the weather is and how sorry you feel for those in snow, are you really living life are just trying to make yourself feel better by ignoring all the negatives that come with the "great" weather?

Overall, we've found that there are negatives and positives about living anywhere in the US. The "best" all depends on what your priorities are and what you enjoy.

[Nephler]

The scenery is the best part of Michigan.
Anything north of M-55. But mostly the UP along Lake Superior shoreline plus all the Keweenaw. If I could really make a living up there we would move there, the UP that is. Instead, we are moving to Alaska!

[Cliffie]

You might be surprised to learn, Coldjensens, that Pontiac is being gutted and rebuilt with nightclubs and such. Anywhere up North is terrific, especially the Soo, the Sleeping Bear Dunes, Whitefish Point, the falls, places like that.

Closer to you, try the Lakeland area for fishing and tramping and stuff. You sound like you're pretty close to Brighton Bog, too.

The world's coolest used bookstore is King's on Lafayette, right downtown. 700,000 used books my friend!!!

[Nephler]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

Where is the best place for Skiing? We visited Schuss (?) mountain, it was a bit lame, but not crowded at all. Great for learners.

I like Nubs Nob the best although Boyne Mountain isn't bad either.

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

Where is the best place for Skiing? We visited Schuss (?) mountain, it was a bit lame, but not crowded at all. Great for learners.

Originally Posted by Nephler

I like Nubs Nob the best although Boyne Mountain isn't bad either.

I used to like Sylvan a LOT before they butchered it and turn it into "Sylvan Resort". I liked the personal feeling and down home "Sylvan Knob" back when the Meads still owned it. Still not too bad, but if you are that far up, might as well go to Boyne for sure.

[M TYPE X]

Nubs and the Boynes are by far the state's most developed ski areas, and better than the Shanty Creek (Schuss Mountain) and Crystal Mountain options. I miss Sugar Loaf (which may never reopen), but there are plenty of larger, underdeveloped ski areas (Indianhead and Marquette) and smaller places (Pine Mountain, Caberfae, etc).

My 'home hill' remains Pine Knob. I actually think I enjoy it more than Mt Holly, for whatever reason. Alpine Valley is OK for an infrequent visit. Mt Brighton isn't worth the U-turn in the parking lot.

The ski hills in the southeast around Oakland and Livingston counties are often packed, and so are Nubs and the Boynes. Nubs and the Boynes charge premo prices thesedays, as their product is arguably the most refined by far. The Boynes offer 'the total resort experience,' while Nubs has this "little old me" persona that they insist on retaining.